


I Frankly Would've Liked to Stay

by Chash



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-05-16 18:17:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5835928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chash/pseuds/Chash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke discovers that Bellamy has some holes in his pop-culture knowledge. In fact, his pop-culture knowledge is basically made up of holes. So she has some work to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Frankly Would've Liked to Stay

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MeghanAnna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeghanAnna/gifts).



> Meghan prompted me with "What do you mean you've never seen Star Wars? Prepare yourself for a fucking marathon, my friend!" for my 1500 followers giveaway, and it went some kind of weird "Bellamy had a terrible childhood" places. Like you do, I guess.

The thing is, Bellamy Blake is a _nerd_.

Not that it's a bad thing. Clarke's kind of a nerd herself, in the sense that she's smart and did very well in school and has a lot of opinions about comic books and science-fiction franchises. She likes nerds. It's part of why she likes Bellamy, aside from a weird fondness for people who bicker with her and an appreciation of his secret fluffy center.

So she's surprised when she has _Fellowship of the Ring_ on in the living room one Saturday and he asks, "What are you watching?"

He doesn't usually know what she's watching, but--she's usually not watching _Lord of the Rings_. "What do you mean, what am I watching?"

He frowns. "I'm not sure how that question could be clearer. You even repeated it."

" _Fellowship of the Ring_. Extended edition."

"Oh yeah, they made a movie of that." He leans on the back of the couch, watching the screen with a small frown. "Is that Frodo?"

"That's Gimli."

"Oh, yeah, that makes way more sense."

"How have you not seen this? I know you have the books. I've seen the books on your shelves."

There's a long pause, and when she looks back, he's in the kitchen, looking through the fridge. "I just never saw them."

Clarke pauses the movie and twists around so she can prop herself up to watch him. Bellamy is twenty-seven, four years older than she is, so he would have been in middle and high school when the movies came out. She can imagine him as a tiny little dork, fucking _stoked_ about a _Lord of the Rings_ movie. She was only eight when the first one came out, but she still remembers going with her dad, even though her mom thought she was too young.

But Bellamy's back is tense, and she recognizes the hard set of his shoulders, the stiff way he moves.

So she says, "It really just started. You should watch with me. _Fellowship_ is definitely the best, but you can get mad about how they screwed up Faramir in _Two Towers_."

"They screwed up Faramir?" he asks, clearly curious in spite of himself.

"Totally." She pats the couch. "Come on, Bellamy. I was in this fandom for a while. I can tell you all about the slash fanfic I read about Legolas and Gimli making out."

"I don't have to actually watch it for you to tell me about that. Isn't it like ten billion hours?"

"I'm sorry, did you suddenly grow a social life? Did you make plans for the weekend?"

"I need to get a book," he says. "So I can pretend I'm studying."

"Uh huh," says Clarke. "I'll start it over."

*

Clarke went to college with Bellamy's sister, and when she got a job in DC after graduation, Octavia been the one to suggest she move into Bellamy's apartment.

"You might kill each other, but probably no," Octavia had said, cheerful, and Clarke figured it was worth a shot. She liked her odds.

Bellamy's in grad school, getting his PhD in history, and Clarke basically likes living with him. He's smart and funny and cleaner than she expected, and they mostly get along. But Bellamy shuts down sometimes, goes quiet and distant, and Clarke hasn't figured out what to do with that, aside from move on. Which sucks, because--she wants to know more about him. She likes him; she wants to think they're friends.

"Does your brother have a traumatic experience with the _Lord of the Rings_ franchise?" she asks. Her best solution to Bellamy weirdness is to call Octavia in California for a long-distance consultation. It's not always effective, but at least she has someone to commiserate with.

"What?" asks Octavia.

"He hadn't seen the movies. And he totally loved them when we watched--well, okay, it's Bellamy, so he complained about changes he didn't like and nitpicked non-stop, but that's how he shows his love. But I asked why he hadn't seen them before and he got weird."

"Oh," says Octavia, awkward. "It's--yeah. We didn't have a TV growing up? And you know Bell, he's never met a penny he didn't pinch. So we didn't go to the movies much. I guess he missed a lot of stuff."

"Yeah, but--" Clarke frowns. "He has a TV _now_. He could watch stuff. He never watches TV."

"He likes reading. I don't know, you'd have to ask him. It's just how he is. But my friends in high school were always amazed when I hadn't seen stuff and it got really annoying, so that's probably it. He's probably just tired of the _oh my god, how have you not seen this_ thing."

Clarke watches him over the next few weeks, trying to puzzle it out. Not that watching TV is a vital part of life or anything, but--she feels like there are a lot of things he'd _enjoy_ , and it bugs her a little, wondering what he hasn't seen. He must have seen _some_ stuff. He went to college. Octavia saw all sorts of stuff in college, Clarke remembers. He should have been catching up.

But he really doesn't ever watch their TV.

Clarke tends to think of herself as someone who consumes a pretty normal amount of media. She has a few shows she keeps up with on a weekly basis and is well-versed in most parts of pop culture. And now she feels self-conscious about it, because Bellamy reads _all the time_ , so she feels uncultured for leaving _Brookyln 99_ on while she draws instead of trying to grow as a person.

But he'd _like it_ , if he watched it. She'll hear him snort out a laugh, sometimes, when he's cooking in the kitchen and she's got the TV on, but he doesn't watch with her, and it just seems--

It makes her sad because she wants to share this stuff with him, and it's kind of an overwhelming thought. There are things she's watched that feel like a part of her, and she wants Bellamy to share them.

Later, she'll think she should have known what it meant, but it just makes her feel too full, when she first realizes it, so she doesn't let herself examine it further.

*

She starts small.

"Do you have a favorite Disney movie?"

He doesn't look up from his laptop. "The one with the dog."

"That's like half of them."

"A lot of dogs?"

"How many?"

He sighs, and finally looks at her. "The dalmatians one."

" _101 Dalmatians_?"

"Sure."

"That's your favorite?"

"O really liked the book, so she wanted to see the movie. I got pissed that they got rid of the second dog family with the brown spots, and that they turned the two female dogs into one female dog, and pretty much got rid of Cadpig too, she was my favorite. So, yeah, I liked it."

Clarke snorts. "Do you know how to enjoy things without picking them apart?"

"Not really. It's why I have to deconstruct all my food. Did you ever read _The Starlight Barking_?"

"The what?"

"It's the sequel to _101 Dalmatians_ , it's totally fucked up. All the dogs learn how to fly because a magical alien wants to lure them off Earth to save them from nuclear war."

"You're making that up."

"Swear to god. It was Sirius, the dog star."

"God, spoilers, Bellamy."

He grins. "Here to help."

"So, you know the name and plot of the sequel to _101 Dalmatians_ , but you forgot the name of the movie. Which is your favorite Disney movie."

"Clarke, a magical space dog tried to rescue them from nuclear war," he says, patient. "How could I ever forget that?"

She opens and closes her mouth. "Yeah, okay, but--second favorite Disney movie?"

"I dunno. The one with the lion."

*

"So, _Jurassic World_."

"What about it?"

"When are we seeing it?"

Bellamy looks unimpressed. "Why would we see it? It's a desperate money-grab from a dying franchise."

"Not a fan of the first one?"

"See, you only say the first one. Does anyone care about the rest of the series? Do we even know how many movies it had?"

Clarke frowns. "I think three."

"This is what I'm saying. You're not even sure."

"But _dinosaurs_ , Bellamy."

"I heard everyone's either a space kid or a dinosaur kid. I was a space kid."

"Me too," she admits. "How about _Mad Max_?"

He squints at her. She doesn't see any theoretical reason he shouldn't want to see _new_ movies. It's not like she's scandalized he hasn't seen them. She hasn't seen them either. "Is there a reason you're trying to drag me to a movie?" he asks.

"I'm hoping if I pay you'll put out."

He snorts. "On the first date? Come on." He drums his fingers on his book. "Isn't _Mad Max_ also a desperate money grab from a dying franchise?"

"It's got a guy playing a flaming guitar, though. A flaming guitar that was actually functional as both a guitar and a flamethrower."

He resists for about ten seconds. "Okay, fine. But you're paying."

*

Wells moves to DC in August, and Clarke borrows his collection of Studio Ghibli movies within a week. Because she loves them and hasn't seen them in a while, not just for Bellamy's benefit.

"Hey, I'm going to watch _Princess Mononoke_ ," she says, sticking her head into his room. "You should check it out."

"Princess what?"

"Mononoke. It's this anime I saw in high school, I remember really liking it, but it's been years. You'll like it. Cool animation, nature vs industrialism, there are dogs."

He laughs. "I don't need all movies to have dogs, you know."

"They're actually _wolves_."

"Should have said."

He follows her into the living room and sits down on one end of the couch, the end she's usually not on. It's always weird, sitting on the couch with him, because there's this whole cushion of space between them, like no man's land, and it feels _wrong_. Like they're afraid of touching each other. Which doesn't even make sense, because why would they? _That_ would be weird.

No one ever really taught Bellamy not to talk during movies. At least in public--based on the two times she's managed to get him to go with her--he keeps his remarks low enough no one notices, but when it's just the two of them, he chats, and Clarke kind of likes it. Bellamy's focus of study is on post-colonialism, but he took a few classes on Japanese culture and religion in undergrad, so he has informed thoughts on the movie's presentation of the gods and shit, but he also just has _thoughts_ , like the kodama are freaky and Lady Eboshi is kind of a badass and he wants to have a wolf to ride.

Clarke loves it.

She gets him to watch _Spirited Away_ the next night, and _Howl's Moving Castle_ the night after that. He's read that book, of course, and rants about changes the whole time, talking with his hands, all lit up with indignation.

Clarke really wants to kiss him. 

The thought is sudden and unwelcome, an almost physical pull as he grins at her. She knew he was attractive, of course. Knew she liked him. Knew she hadn't really dated since she moved in with him, had ignored a lot of cute girls and some decent guys on okcupid because none of them did anything for her.

But she hadn't realized why, and this is it. _Bellamy_. She wants Bellamy.

"So, you got another anime for tonight?" he asks her the following day, and part of her is thrilled that he's coming to her, all by himself, _asking_ , because that means the plan is working.

The rest of her is still freaked out, because she _likes him_. She likes him so, so much. And she was _happy_ , not knowing that she had a crush on him. It's always like that for her; there's this brief period, before she notices she's interested in someone, when she's in a good mood for no apparent reason, and it's perfect.

And then she figures it out, and she has to have a crush on someone.

"Next up is _My Neighbor Totoro_ , which I haven't seen since I was six? All I remember is there's a giant weird monster that roars a lot. And a cat bus with like twenty legs."

"Awesome, sounds good."

She's even more aware of the space between them on the couch, the casual way he sprawls, just how she'd have to move if she wanted to brush up against him.

She'll get used to it. She just needs a few more days.

The last Ghibli movie she has from Wells is _Grave of the Fireflies_ , which Clarke has never seen. But they've got it, so they figure they might as well watch it.

It's really not a good idea.

Clarke and Bellamy have never discussed his and Octavia's history; everything Clarke knows about it, she learned from Octavia herself, late nights talking in the dark. Octavia knows almost nothing about her brother's father, and barely any more about her own. The way Octavia talked about it, it was just the two of them, even before their mother died when she was ten, and she and her brother went to live with their grandmother, who never liked them much. She died when Octavia was a senior in high school, just after she turned eighteen, and Bellamy took a brief hiatus from college to make sure she didn't die before she started school herself. They always technically had other people, but in all the ways that mattered, they only had each other.

If Clarke had read the back of the DVD, she wouldn't have put it in. Or she at least would have _asked_ if Bellamy wanted to watch a movie about a brother trying to take care of his sister and failing and both of them _fucking dying_. Just to be polite.

Because the thing is, he's kind of transfixed. Not that Clarke is surprised, not exactly. The movie is harrowing even for her, and she's not projecting her traumatic childhood all over it. But that's maybe cool or cathartic or something. Maybe he feels understood.

It's difficult to hypothesize what she'd do if she hadn't noticed her feelings for him. She thinks she probably would have figured it out now, watching him, the rapt expression on his face, the way his breaths shudder. How could she _not_ notice? It's just as well she already knows, because now she can try to help, instead of just freaking out about her own feelings.

His hand is on the sofa between them, and if she didn't like him, if he was Octavia or Wells or Raven or any of her other friends, she'd do something, and that's what decides it. She shifts over, just close enough, and takes his hand.

She hears his sudden intake of breath, but he doesn't say anything, doesn't look away from the TV. He just turns his hand over in hers so he can squeeze back, and that's all. They stay like that, holding hands, until the movie ends, the credits roll, and the DVD clicks back to the menu.

Bellamy's the one to finally break the silence. "Do you have easy access to that cop show?"

"Cop show?" she asks.

"The one with the hot angry latina."

Clarke feels her mouth curve in a small smile. "Yeah, it's on Hulu."

He nods. "Could we watch an episode of that? Just--"

"Sounds good."

She has to take her hand back to get the episode queued up, but once it starts, Bellamy shifts a little, moves in, and reclaims it, rubbing his thumb against her knuckles, absent. Clarke tries not to shiver, because it's not--it's not _romantic_. She might have accidentally mildly traumatized him. He's taking comfort.

They watch two episodes of _Brooklyn 99_ , and then he squeezes her hand once, says, "Thanks, that was good," and goes into his room and shuts the door.

Studio Ghibli week: truly a resounding success.

*

Honestly, Clarke is expecting the entire project to crash and burn after that, but the next night, Bellamy comes out, sits down next to her on the couch and says, "I know we're out of anime, but what else have you got?"

Clarke bites back on her smile with an effort. "I don't know. What do you like?"

He glances at her and then looks away. "Fantasy, I guess. Space. Whatever. I trust your judgement. If you like it, I'll give it a try."

"I think I can handle that," Clarke says, putting her feet up on the coffee table. "Netflix is a beautiful thing."

*

They watch Disney's _Hercules_ and argue about how important it is for adaptations to remain faithful to source material, and then _Pocahontas_ so Bellamy can get really angry about colonialism, and then they figure they might as well just watch all the Disney movies that Netflix has. It becomes a nightly ritual when they're both home, and Clarke tries not to think of them as dates, because they're _not_. It's just hanging out with her roommate. It's fun, and basically her favorite part of every day, but that doesn't make it a date. She has an inconvenient crush, and she's going to get over it.

She has to get over it.

They switch to TV, do a few episodes of _Brooklyn 99_ a night and a bunch more on weekends, and Bellamy starts seeming--comfortable. When there's a movie reference in the show, he'll say, "I haven't seen that," and Clarke uses it as a guide. They watch _Die Hard_ so Jake Peralta won't be disappointed in Bellamy on a personal level, and some French art films Clarke has never seen either for Terry. Also _Step Up_ , which they both regret, but--it's fun, too.

She thinks she's doing pretty well with the whole thing, being a good pop-culture influence without making Bellamy feel self-conscious about it. And it's nice. She likes sharing this stuff with him.

"You know the second step in Netflix and chill isn't _actually_ chilling, right?" Raven asks her. "This is getting sad."

"He's weird," Clarke says. "I need to take it slow or he freaks out about his lack of media knowledge and shuts down."

Raven stares at her in open horror. "Yeah, uh, I'm saying you should jump him, not that you need to be more careful about showing him movies. Come on, Clarke. You've been in love with this guy for like a year, shit or get off the pot."

Clarke blinks a few times. "A year?" she asks. She's only known him since last June; she hasn't been in love with him the whole time.

Probably.

"Jesus, you're ridiculous," says Raven, fond. "I can't even talk about this. I was going to ask you for advice on how to hit on Wells, but I'll figure it out myself, you clearly can't be trusted with romance."

"I'm not trying to hit on Bellamy," Clarke protests.

"This is part of your problem, yeah."

It's a fair point, but it doesn't _feel_ like a problem to Clarke. Her life feels pretty awesome. She and Bellamy were always broadly friends, but it feels like they're bonding now, getting comfortable with each other. She doesn't need to progress to the second stage of Netflix and chill; she likes just the Netflix.

Then, she finds out about _Star Wars_.

Clarke doesn't think of herself as a _Star Wars_ nerd in particular, but it's just--it's a part of her. Her dad was a big fan, and she doesn't even remember the first time she saw the original trilogy. She watched it so often as a kid that it feels like she was born having seen it.

Which is probably why she forgets that Bellamy might not have, even though she's been so careful. Even though she knew he'd missed things, she hadn't thought he could miss _that_. He was a space kid.

So she just calls over her shoulder, "Hey, _Force Awakens_ tickets go on sale Monday, when do you want to go?"

"What tickets?" he asks.

" _The Force Awakens_."

"Is that a band?"

She pauses, doesn't even know what to _say_. Doesn't know what to do. He hasn't seen _Star Wars_.

"It's the new _Star Wars_ ," she says, once she's recovered, and she sees him wince, just a little. 

"Huh."

She considers as he pokes at the stir-fry he's making, and finally gets off the couch and goes to stand next to him at the stove, shoulder just barely brushing his. "You know I don't care, right?" she asks, soft. "You haven't seen movies, big deal. It's kind of nice. I get to show you all my favorite stuff and you've never seen it before. I get to see you seeing it for the first time."

He looks down at her, and she feels her fingers twitch with the desire to push his hair out of his eyes. "Octavia told you," he says.

"Just that you guys didn't have a TV when you were kids. And that she gets annoyed with people asking her why she hasn't seen stuff."

"I know all the spoilers," he says.

"For what?"

" _Star Wars_. Darth Vader is Luke's father. Luke and Leia are siblings. The prequels are shit. Jar Jar Binks is the worst. Uh, Yoda."

Clarke has to laugh, just a little. "You think Yoda is a spoiler?"

"He's not?" he asks, but he sounds amused and a little sheepish himself. "I feel like once I saw him, there wasn't much point in anything else."

"Yeah, we all feel that way about Yoda." She bumps her hip against his. "So, this weekend, right? You and me, _Star Wars_ marathon. You were a space kid. I bet you haven't seen _Star Trek_ either."

"I thought you weren't allowed to like both."

"I'm a rebel. I think you'd like DS9, that's the one that's got, like--it's the one that's good if you don't have the benefit of nostalgia."

He snorts. "You're making this sound great." 

"I try to be realistic."

He pokes at his stir-fry again. "I might not like it."

"We don't _have_ to watch DS9."

"I meant _Star Wars_ ," he says. "Is that going to be a problem? You going to have to move out?"

"I'll live," she says. "But I think you're going to like it."

There's another pause, and he doesn't look at her as he says, "I had this girlfriend in high school. She found out I liked the _Harry Potter_ books, but I'd never seen the movie, and she was--like you, I guess. She was really excited she got to show them to me. And I fucking _hated_ the first movie. I always kind of saw Harry as, uh--I thought he'd look more like me, and no one else looked like I pictured them either and it just--I thought it was shitty, I didn't want to watch the rest, she got pissed, and we broke up. Over a stupid _Harry Potter_ movie. And it's not like I really cared. But I did get sick of it. I haven't seen some stuff. Who cares?"

Clarke smiles, rests her forehead against his shoulder. It's the most she's touched him since they watched _Grave of the Fireflies_ , and it feels weirdly like that. Like Bellamy's giving her something important, and she needs to not fuck it up. "I kind of like it when you hate stuff. It's fun."

"Yeah, I've noticed. But--you like _Star Wars_."

"Yup."

He finally says, "I want to like it."

"Maybe you will." She wets her lips. "I'm not going to break up with you if you don't like _Star Wars_ , Bellamy."

"We're not dating, so that would be tough." He sighs. "Do we have to watch the prequels?"

"I'm going to do some research."

"Research?"

"Machete order is a thing? I'm gonna work it out. I kind of want to see you get pissed off at them."

He laughs, and she sees him ducking his head on a bright smile that makes her heart skip. "That does sound kind of fun."

"See? It's gonna be great."

"Great," he repeats, and presses back against her for a second before pushing her off with his hip. "Go sit down, I'll feed you."

Octavia calls the next day, while Clarke is, in fact, researching.

"Are you fucking my brother?" she asks, without preamble. She sounds curious, not upset, but Clarke still nearly chokes.

"No!"

"Huh. Too bad."

"What did--why do you ask?"

"I was talking to him yesterday and he said you guys were watching _Star Wars_ this weekend."

"Which is definitely universally agreed-on code for fucking, yeah."

"I'm just saying, he sounded really excited. And Bell doesn't really do movies."

"We've been working on it."

Octavia is quiet for a while. "So, when are you going to start fucking?"

"I don't know. I have it on good authority that I'm really bad at the second step of Netflix and chill, and he's shitty at the first step, so--"

"I tried to get him to watch _Star Wars_ with me like five times."

Clarke pauses. "Really?"

"Yeah. He was really stubborn about it. He thought it was gonna be hokey and stupid. So, yeah. He likes you."

"You say that," says Clarke, glad that no one is around to see her ridiculous smile, "but I am going to make him watch _Attack of the Clones_ tomorrow. So it probably won't last."

Octavia laughs. "There is that." She pauses and says, "You should definitely date him. You guys would be cute."

She hadn't really been worried about Octavia's approval, in part because her brain had never quite kicked in and gotten to thinking about actually _going out_ with Bellamy, but it makes her smile anyway. "We would be pretty cute," she says. "I'll keep you posted."

When Clarke wakes up on Saturday, Bellamy is already in his customary place on the couch, dressed in his pajamas with his glasses on, his traditional _I'm not planning to leave the apartment if there is any possible way I can avoid it_ outfit, a pile of books and papers surrounding him.

"Please tell me you're not planning to work on your thesis during _Star Wars_ ," she says, getting herself some breakfast in the kitchen.

"Just if I get bored," he says.

"There is something wrong with you. In what world is your thesis more interesting than _Star Wars_?"

"Shut up, my thesis is awesome."

"It kind of is," she admits. She's read excerpts over his shoulder and she's honestly looking forward to the whole thing. "But still. Yoda, Bellamy. Don't you want to know how he fits into everything?"

"Desperately."

By the time she gets back into the living room with her coffee and cereal, he's cleared his stuff off the couch, and she hesitates for only a second before she sits down directly next to him, forgoing the traditional cushion of space between them.

Bellamy doesn't comment on it, just shifts slightly, settling in a little closer. "Okay, so, what's the plan? Did you figure out the optimal order to watch these in?"

"Machete order, basically," she says. "Episode four, episode five, episode two, episode three, episode six. And instead of watching _The Phantom Menace_ , we just listen to the Weird Al "American Pie" parody song, which is way better."

"Cool." He pauses. "Which one is your favorite?"

"Why, do you want to be nice to it?"

He ducks his head. "Kind of, yeah."

She tucks herself into his side and takes a huge bite of cereal. " _Return of the Jedi_. I think the Ewoks are cute. Apparently this is a really unpopular opinion on the internet. I got in some fights while I was looking into this, so you better appreciate it."

He tensed as soon as she started touching him, but he's relaxing by degrees, and given he shifts so he can be more comfortable against her, she's not worried he minds. "My hero," he says, and Clarke gets the movie going.

"Okay, first disclaimer," she says, during the title crawl.

"Jesus, already?"

"These are the new versions, so I'm going to yell at the screen about how George Lucas is a hack any time one of the new scenes is on."

"Perfect," he says.

And it really kind of is. Bellamy makes outrageous predictions about what will happen based on what he knows from the internet and general pop-culture osmosis, and Clarke fills then with in trivia she vaguely knows from skimming the EU. They make a lot of jokes about incest and Bellamy complains that Yoda hasn't showed up yet and when the movie ends, he says he liked it. Sounds genuine, even.

"I'm gonna need some more evidence," she says. They're absolutely snuggling at this point, Clarke resting on Bellamy's chest with his arm around her waist, holding her close. "Favorite character?"

"R2-D2."

"Favorite scene?"

"Luke and Han getting married at the end."

"Favorite awkward incest?"

"All the awkward incest is my favorite awkward incest."

Clarke laughs and disentangles herself to put in the next DVD. "Yeah, that all checks out. I now believe you're totally a _Star Wars_ fan."

"The effects held up a lot better than I expected," he says, turning serious. "You can tell from the hair that it was the seventies, but the space battles looked really cool. And a lot of the costuming. Like the droids and Chewie, they all looked--they fit. And it was kind of--I liked that it didn't look all shiny and futuristic. There's a lived-in vibe. I like that."

"You're really going to be pissed off about the prequels."

"Can't wait."

She settles right back where she was when she gets back on the couch, and there's only a moment's pause before Bellamy puts his hand over hers and twines their fingers together, a little stiff, like he's expecting her to pull away.

She squeezes and rests her head against his chest, listens to his heart beat slow down as she doesn't pull away.

*

They start making out during _Attack of the Clones_.

"This is because I'm bored and you're all over me," he says, sliding his hand into her hair to pull her closer. "Not because the movie is romantic. I just want that to be clear."

"Because you're bored?" she teases, and laughs when he bites her neck.

"We need to be dating by the time we're watching _Return of the Jedi_ so you can dump me when I don't like it. So I was working on a pretty short timetable."

Clarke brushes her nose against his, and then she gets distracted kissing him again. He's really good at kissing, and she's really, really into him.

"That's probably not going to happen." He freezes, and Clarke figures it out after a second, leans in to nuzzle his neck. "I meant dumping you, not dating you. I don't think there's anything you can say about _Return of the Jedi_ to make me stop liking you."

"Sounds like a challenge," he says, and tugs her shirt over her head.

They don't even notice when the movie ends.

*

They were supposed to watch four on Saturday and one on Sunday, but they're basically useless once the kissing starts, so they end up hooking up on the couch, ordering a pizza, hooking up in Bellamy's bed, and then snuggling while he works on his thesis and Clarke reads _Dune_. As evenings go, it's one of Clarke's favorites.

"I remember like four things about this movie," she tells him in the morning. "But one of them involves Yoda having a fight, so get pumped."

He yawns into his arm; apparently their dating means he no longer feels the need to put on shirts, which Clarke really approves of. "Was anyone really asking for a Yoda fight scene? No one wanted that."

"Probably someone wanted that," she says, accepting a mug of coffee from him and making room so he can slot in behind her on the couch. "But, yeah, it's bad. Also I know how all the fights turn out because the characters are still, you know. Alive in the next movie. So the suspense is nonexistent."

"Spoilers."

"Most of them are alive in the movies _you saw_."

He kisses her hair. "After surprise incest, I'm not taking anything for granted. Trust no one."

"Have you ever even seen _The X-Files_?"

"Nope."

"We should find a good list of episodes that are worth watching. You'd like some of them."

"You're just going to have me watching TV in all my spare time for the rest of my life, huh?"

"Basically."

He sighs. "Okay, let's get this over with. Gotta make sure you don't dump me over _Return of the Jedi_ , right?"

"Just remember, Ewoks are cute."

"I'll be the judge of that."

She finds she actually _is_ a little nervous. Not that she's going to dump him, but she wants him to like this movie enough to come to _The Force Awakens_ with her and be at least mildly invested in it, and she'll honestly be disappointed if that doesn't happen.

Bellamy notices, of course.

"Shit, you care about this," he says, with his usual tact and grace. "Do I need to pay attention?"

"You've been paying attention."

"I spent like half of _Empire Strikes Back_ staring down your shirt and trying to figure out how to make an actual move."

"Which you already did, so you can totally pay attention to this. We need to talk about how gross people are about slave Leia."

"Slave Leia?"

"The metal bikini outfit? You must have seen it."

"Nope."

Clarke twists around to gawk at him. "How did you miss _that_? It's everywhere, it's so gross."

"I'm pure and unsullied," he says, and Clarke snorts.

"Definitely not."

He leans down to kiss her. "Shut up, I'm trying to watch this."

*

Bellamy pretends to fall asleep on her in line for _The Force Awakens_.

"Why are we seeing this at midnight?" he complains, forehead on her shoulder. "You know there were earlier shows, right? We're not even seeing the earliest show. This is just awkward."

"You're not even thirty, you can stay up until three a.m."

"I'm old at heart."

Clarke snorts and kisses his hair. "Think of it as an important initiation. Your first-ever midnight release."

"I did midnight releases for two of the _Harry Potter_ books. Sorry."

"First-ever midnight movie release. They're different. You get to feel the camaraderie with your fellow nerds. Right, Raven?"

"I'm pretending I don't know any of you," says Raven. "Except Wells. Bellamy is embarrassing and you're embarrassing by proxy."

"Yeah," Bellamy says, dry. "I'm definitely feeling the love."

"If you want to _really_ feel the love, you should yell that you've never seen a superhero movie."

"I'm the fake geek boy you've been warned about," he agrees. 

"Wait, seriously?" asks Raven, looking up from her phone. "Not even--"

Bellamy holds up his hand. "Don't start. I'm taking baby steps here. I just watch what Clarke tells me to watch."

"And you've done _no_ superheroes? None?"

"We'll get there," Clarke says, unconcerned. She tangles her hand in Bellamy's hair, rubbing his scalp the way he likes. "We've got plenty of time."

**Author's Note:**

> Bellamy POV [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9507350/chapters/25733121)!


End file.
